Each week during the University of Kansas’ sports seasons, the Journal-World staff will select one athlete from a KU men’s sports team and one from a women’s sports team as athletes of the week.
For the week of Jan. 12-18, the selections are Flory Bidunga and Yerkezhan Arystanbekova.
Flory Bidunga, men’s basketball
After chipping in a solid 10 points and seven rebounds on Tuesday to contribute to KU’s upset win over No. 2 Iowa State, Bidunga took his play to a new level on Friday night against Baylor. His 23-point, 11-rebound double-double, complete with five blocks, demonstrated the degree to which he menaced the Bears’ depleted frontcourt, and went down as one of the best showings of his career.
Yerkezhan Arystanbekova, tennis
The junior from Kazakhstan went unbeaten in three overall matches, two in singles and one in doubles, over the course of the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence on Thursday and Friday. In singles, she beat Memphis’ Emma Dvorackova 6-3, 6-1, and Iowa State’s Julia Camblor 6-2, 6-2, and in doubles she teamed up with Anna Putilina for a 6-3 in over ISU’s Mari Paz Alberto Villar and Stanislava Shulzhenko.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
